During my freshman year in high school, my science teacher assigned us to interview people in the community about how they use science in their careers. Although I don’t remember most of the people I spoke with, I can tell you that I spent meaningful time with a local community pharmacist who changed my life.
What I saw was a man who loved his career and truly cared for his patients. In an instant, I knew that I wanted to become a pharmacist, and I never wavered from that goal throughout high school.
Knowing what you want to be when you grow up at age 14 is unusual, but it is very liberating. I simply had to work backwards to figure out how to achieve my goal of becoming a pharmacist.
After high school, I chose to attend Ohio Northern University (ONU) because it had a unique pharmacy program. Rather than attending college for 2 years and then applying to the pharmacy program, ONU students were admitted to the College of Pharmacy from day one.
Although it was expensive, being in pharmacy school from day one and avoiding the risk of rejection made it worthwhile for me.
In college, I spent a lot of time in the library. Although the classwork was difficult, I did well with one exception: organic chemistry.
I did fail organic chemistry—a notorious “weed out” course—but I successfully retook the class over the summer and graduated on time with the rest of my classmates. Failing a course is a difficult stumbling block, but I stood strong and persevered.
Today, I’m thankful for the wonderful pharmacy profession for so many reasons.
First, I’m thankful that community pharmacists are the health care professionals most accessible to the public. If my local pharmacist wasn’t accessible to me, then I likely would have taken a different career path.
Second, I’m proud of the work we pharmacists do, the diversity of our career options, and the relationships we share with our patients and fellow health care providers.
Pharmacy is a profession that makes a real difference in people’s lives. It certainly has made all the difference in mine.
Flirting, home, New York, Revolting, Silly, Spouses & Partners, USA | Romantic | November 12, 2018
(My husband walks into our bedroom, naked, and slithers up into bed with me.)
Husband: “So, I was just in the bathroom trying to poop, and I thought, ‘What do most guys do while they’re trying to poop, but can’t? Probably watch porn. Hmm. I’m going to go have sex with my wife, instead!’”
Health & Body, home, Ireland, Lazy/Unhelpful, Spouses & Partners | Romantic | November 10, 2018
(My husband gets dozens of zits from dry skin if he doesn’t apply cream to his body after showering. He is lazy to do it and I constantly nag him about it. He also stubbornly claims that the cream does nothing for it, despite knowing full well it does. One day we have this lovely conversation.)
Me: “You should apply cream more often.”
Husband: *interrupts me mid-sentence, triumphantly* “I did, just yesterday! See? You did not notice!”
Me: *simultaneously finishing my sentence* “…because you did yesterday and look, your skin looks so lovely.”
(He got that “busted” look on his face while I was grinning from ear to ear, and honestly he has been doing a big better on the “applying cream” front since then.)
home, Non-Dialogue, Ohio, Silly, Spouses & Partners, USA | Romantic | November 8, 2018
My husband has an incredibly loud and powerful snore. One night, I was awake with a bad migraine when his snoring went over the top, causing intense pain in my head. I tried rolling him over, poking his shoulder, talking loudly to him, bouncing the bed, flicking water in his face… Nothing stopped the snoring. I decided to ruffle his mustache with a pencil. Thank heaven I was using the eraser end, because he rolled toward me, which allowed the pencil to go up his nose!
The snoring did stop long enough for me to go to sleep. The next morning, he had no idea what had happened until I confessed.
Fights/Breakups, home, Silly, Spouses & Partners, USA, Virginia | Romantic | November 8, 2018
(My husband and I are in a heated argument.)
Me: *at a volume of 11* “You are so inconsiderate. Acknowledge my feelings. You’re acting like an a**hole.”
Husband: “You know, one time I removed a pair of mating snakes from under the deck because I knew it would freak you out. That was pretty considerate of me.”
Me: “Really? Well, that was nice of you. Poor snakes, breaking up their sexy party.”
(I have been dating my boyfriend for two years when our milkman asks me out. He and I are close to the same age, and he’s been delivering our milk for years.)
Me: “I’m sorry, but no. I have a boyfriend.”
(A couple of weeks later he tries again.)
Milkman: “Hey. I spoke to your ‘boyfriend’ and he said it was all right for you to go out with me.”
Me: “What the h***? You really think I’m going to stuff up a two-year-long relationship on that?”
(He starts dating my best friend for a few months. She dumps him because he’s too clingy, telling me that I was lucky to avoid that. A couple of years later I get married and am back at my mother’s place for visit when he arrives to deliver the milk.)
Food & Drink, home, Spouses & Partners, Texas, USA | Romantic | October 31, 2018
(My husband was not a very adventurous eater before we met, and his mom was not much on cooking. I discovered this when we were dating and I would cook dinners for us. Here are some of my favorite exchanges we’ve had.)
Husband: “What’s wrong with this apple?”
Me: “Nothing?”
Husband: “But it’s pink. Apples are only red or green.”
(It’s a pink lady apple, but he didn’t know there were more than red delicious or Granny Smith! Another time, while eating a stir fry with a peanut sauce…)
Husband: “This is good. Can I see the bottle the sauce came in so I can buy some?”
Me: “It didn’t come in a bottle, but I can give you the recipe.”
Husband: “You made this? I didn’t know a regular person could make a sauce.”
(Another time, while eating some mixed vegetables…)
Husband: “These green beans taste a little funny.”
When Sleeping On The Job Means Not Sleeping On The Job
Health & Body, home, Idaho, Pocatello, Spouses & Partners, USA | Romantic | October 29, 2018
(I suffer from a fatigue disorder which has only within a couple of years begun to be managed by medication. I hate napping, because if I nap for more than an hour, I can’t sleep at all the next night, and napping for less than an hour gives me a migraine. Thankfully I haven’t gotten tired enough to nap since starting the medication. It is also important to note that my wife usually has to push to get me to leave the house for work and school, as I am a massive shut-in.)
Me: “I’m not feeling well.”
Wife: “That’s okay. We have nowhere to go. Just take it easy.”
(A couple of hours later, I end up taking a nap for four hours.)
Me: “I hate to say it, but I don’t think I can go to college tomorrow.”
Wife: *uncharacteristically agreeable for this subject* “Okay, hun, go ahead and take the day off.”
Me: “What? No argument about my obligations?”
Wife: “If you’re sick enough to decide to take a nap, and you sleep through the night tonight, I’ll be able to tell you’re actually sick as opposed to having anxiety issues. It’s pretty simple.”
home, New Zealand, Punny, Spouses & Partners, Wellington | Romantic | October 23, 2018
(Every weekday, my partner and I drive home from work together. I tend to get out and check the mail, as our mailbox isn’t that waterproof. This occurs on a rather rainy day, when I’ve just bragged about winning a pun war with some friends.)
Me: “I have another one! What kind of tree does a scientist grow? A chemis-tree!” *bursts out laughing*
Engaged, Games, home, Silly, The Netherlands | Romantic | October 21, 2018
(My fiancé, while loving and caring, is not big on verbal declarations of love and affection. He is playing an FPS game and just lost a timed mission with a margin of two seconds.)
Awesome, Books & Reading, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, home, Proposal, USA | Romantic | October 19, 2018
(I’ve dated guys, not a lot, but enough to make me wary of being geeky or showing how much I like to read. When I say I like to read, I mean I have over a thousand books and am constantly buying more. A lot of the guys I’ve dated have told me that I should downsize my books because they don’t really want to date a girl who reads. I have been in a solid long-distance relationship for about eight months now with this guy who is really just the best thing that ever happened to me. We are discussing the fact of my lease running out in about two months and if it would be better for me to extend my lease for six months or not.)
Me: “Well, it might be better for me to do that, so that I can find a place I like better, maybe with more storage space. Though I just hate the idea of moving… so many trips to the truck and up and down the stairs… It’s horrible.”
Boyfriend: “Yeah, those stairs will be killer for sure.”
Me: “I’m not giving up my books.”
Boyfriend: “O…kay?”
Me: “I know that’s where your mind was going, because everyone tells me that, but I’m not giving up my books.”
Boyfriend: “Did I ask you to? Did I say, ‘[My Name] I want you to be unhappy, dull, and boring; please give up the thing that makes your eyes sparkle and makes you laugh.’? Did I say I want you to stop being you?”
Me: *now embarrassed* “Well, no, but—”
Boyfriend: “No, listen. Does this make you happy?”
Me: “Yes?”
Boyfriend: “Do you pay all your bills on time with money left over? Do you feel joy at your collection? Do you read them?”
Me: “Yes, to all of those.”
Boyfriend: “Then why on earth would I tell you to get rid of them? In fact, I think you need another book, just to get rid of this mindset that people want you to be unhappy! Get your shoes, woman; we are going to the bookstore!”
Me: *teary eyed* “I think I love you.”
Boyfriend: “I know.”
(Yes, we did end up getting a book at the bookstore. He ended up proposing that night, and I accepted!)
Awesome, Books & Reading, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, home, Proposal, USA | Romantic | October 19, 2018
(I’ve dated guys, not a lot, but enough to make me wary of being geeky or showing how much I like to read. When I say I like to read, I mean I have over a thousand books and am constantly buying more. A lot of the guys I’ve dated have told me that I should downsize my books because they don’t really want to date a girl who reads. I have been in a solid long-distance relationship for about eight months now with this guy who is really just the best thing that ever happened to me. We are discussing the fact of my lease running out in about two months and if it would be better for me to extend my lease for six months or not.)
Me: “Well, it might be better for me to do that, so that I can find a place I like better, maybe with more storage space. Though I just hate the idea of moving… so many trips to the truck and up and down the stairs… It’s horrible.”
Boyfriend: “Yeah, those stairs will be killer for sure.”
Me: “I’m not giving up my books.”
Boyfriend: “O…kay?”
Me: “I know that’s where your mind was going, because everyone tells me that, but I’m not giving up my books.”
Boyfriend: “Did I ask you to? Did I say, ‘[My Name] I want you to be unhappy, dull, and boring; please give up the thing that makes your eyes sparkle and makes you laugh.’? Did I say I want you to stop being you?”
Me: *now embarrassed* “Well, no, but—”
Boyfriend: “No, listen. Does this make you happy?”
Me: “Yes?”
Boyfriend: “Do you pay all your bills on time with money left over? Do you feel joy at your collection? Do you read them?”
Me: “Yes, to all of those.”
Boyfriend: “Then why on earth would I tell you to get rid of them? In fact, I think you need another book, just to get rid of this mindset that people want you to be unhappy! Get your shoes, woman; we are going to the bookstore!”
Me: *teary eyed* “I think I love you.”
Boyfriend: “I know.”
(Yes, we did end up getting a book at the bookstore. He ended up proposing that night, and I accepted!)
Church, Engaged, Language & Words, Poland | Romantic | October 17, 2018
My boyfriend and I are a multilingual couple. My first language is English, his first language is French, and the first language that we started talking to each other in was Polish, in which we’re both semi-conversational. We’re both also studying each others’ first languages to improve our communication, and between our three languages have sort of calibrated our normal conversations.
We are planning on getting married next year, and our church requires a private interview with the priest in preparation for marriage. The priest doesn’t know either of us, and speaks English fairly well, but not perfectly, and doesn’t speak any French. Our Polish isn’t really up to the high-level vocabulary of the interviews, so it’s all in English. When we’re interviewing together, everything is fine.
When it’s my turn to interview alone, we have a few difficult moments where the priest phrases a question in a weird way or pronounces a word such that I have to ask for him to repeat it a few times for me to understand, such as, “Are you agree with the church teaching about XYZ?” But overall, it’s okay. As we end the interview, I tell the priest that my boyfriend might have a bit of difficulty understanding him if he speaks very quickly, and the priest says he’s realized that and promises to speak slowly.
I sit outside the office and wait for my boyfriend’s interview to be over. After about ten minutes, the priest opens the office door and asks me if I know another word for “permanent” in French. I tell him no, but offer my phone for Google translating. He shuts the door and the interview continues for a while.
When it’s over, my boyfriend explains that the difficulty was that he heard the question as, “Are you angry with the church teaching about marriage being permanent?”
He replied, “No.”
It took a fair amount of repetition for the priest to clear that particular question up, and I learned that my boyfriend has a lot of difficulty hearing the differences between, “agree,” “angry,” and, “hungry.”
Australia, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, Extra Stupid, Fights/Breakups, Retail | Romantic | October 15, 2018
(I’m standing in the front of our store, cleaning tables and cabinetry, when I hear some shouting. Across the parking lot, in front of the local corner store, a young guy and girl — probably both about twenty years old — are arguing. Not really caring and wanting to finish up, I ignore them and continue working. About two hours later I happen to look out the front door again and see a guy shirtless on the roof of the corner store. Thinking he’s doing some stupid dare with his friends who are all standing in the parking lot looking at him, I call the store.)
Store Clerk: “Hello.”
Me: “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that there is some half-naked guy walking around on your roof.”
Store Clerk: “Yeah, he’s up there looking for his keys. He and his girlfriend had a fight earlier out front, and he got angry and threw his own keys on the roof somewhere.”
Me: “Oh, wow. Well, I hope he finds them, I guess. Sorry for wasting your time.”
(He came down after a couple of hours and hadn’t found his keys. His car got towed the next day. It’s now been over six months, and a set of keys are still on that roof somewhere.)
Auckland, Boyfriend/Girlfriend, home, New Zealand, Politics, Silly | Romantic | October 13, 2018
(Australia’s frequent changing of Prime Ministers has become a running joke both there and in New Zealand, and they’ve just got a new one again. I’m getting ready for bed when I knock a stuffed koala off a shelf.)
Me: “Meh, I’ll just replace it. Isn’t that what the Australians do, just replace things?”
Girlfriend: “I’m going to get this for a whole month, aren’t I?”
Me: “Month? By the time that’s over, they will have gotten a new one again.”
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